Improvements in performance of catalyzed reactions (e.g. conversion of n-butane to maleic anhydride (MA) catalyzed by vanadium phosphorus oxide (VPO)) would bring enormous economic and environmental benefits [Ref 1].
Despite numerous experimental [Ref 1-3] and a few theoretical [Ref 4-8] studies, the mechanism of catalyzed reactions such as catalytic oxidation reaction, remains under debate [Ref 3, 9-11].
Thus, development of improved catalysts and in particular improved C—H activation catalysts remains challenging.